Concerns grow over universal credit

The Labour party has set up a "rescue party" to save the government's delayed welfare reform amid concerns over IT problems and its management.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne told the Labour Party conference in Brightonlast week: "When the welfare state was started, its big idea was to ‘minimise disruption to earnings. Now our task is different. It’s to ‘maximise potential of earnings’. That why we need Universal Credit to work. So if the government won’t act to save it, we will."

The universal credit system, which replace benefits including income support and housing benefit with a single payment, is due to be in place by 2017.

The Payments Council has said that when Universal Credit is introduced most people will receive their benefits once a month, rather than once a fortnight as at present, resulting in many struggling with their finances.

The council, which oversees bank and card transfers in the UK, carried out the survey of claimants within the last month, and found that many of them are worried about running into debt, or struggling to pay bills on time.

Adrian Kamellard, chief executive of the Payments Council, said: “The introduction of Universal Credit means that people will have to be savvier about managing their money and will have to plan for the whole month instead of budgeting on a weekly basis.”